Danno "I saw that the average Venezuelan lost 19 pounds last year, so there is that."

Let's send Michael Moore down there.

They eat dogs in East Asia but I am unaware of any culture that considers cats fine dining, which leads me to believe they must taste terrible. But of course, when people are starving, they will eat anything. (How many dogs and cats are left in North Korea?)

Oh well. More people to take care of... because setting up viable social institutions, trustworthy commerce, and drug-free neighborhoods in Venezuela is racist.

I wouldn't want to be a retired person in Florida right now. They'll be the first people to be beaten during the hunger lootings. First came the Puerto Ricans. Soon Venezuelans will be sent to Florida. Florida SJWs might want to keep an eye on their cats.

Communism murdered 100 million people in the 20th century. Conversely, in nations with more generally open markets the standard of living soared and people lived longer, healthier, and happier lives. And now, in 2017, we once again see the nightmare that is always the inevitable end point of communism on full, gruesome display. And still scores of people around the world happily decide to declare themselves communist.

I don't know what other evidence there could possibly be that it's just a horrible, horrible system that just leads to misery. I don't understand the stunning level of cognitive dissonance it takes to look at the hard facts of history and still choose a path that always ends in a hellish nightmare.

Apparently the people in the "shocked crowd" that gathered around her were not as hungry as she was.

Worked for an old guy once, either from Sweden or Switzerland, told me he ate cats during WW2. Then, worked for his lady friend, another European, spoke eight languages, was some kind of spy during the war. He would eyeball her cats a and lick his lips. she didn't appreciate the humor.

My Filipina wife has eaten dog. She tells me that dog adobo is delicious. For some reason, short haired dog tastes better than long haired dog. Her family had dogs as pets when she was growing up. When the dogs developed medical issues, they ended up in a pot. Of of the quickest ways to get her started on an "Americans are crazy!" rant is to discuss how much people spend on health care for their pets.

exiledonmainstreet said..." When the dogs developed medical issues, they ended up in a pot. "

What kind of "medical issues?" Simple old age won't make meat unsafe to eat, but animals can pass diseases on to people.

She wasn't specific but I'm pretty sure they didn't eat diseased animals. When medical care isn't very good, being stupid about what you eat can have dire consequences. I do recall her saying something like, "Yeah, we loved our pets but if they came up limping, they ended up in the pot." Growing up poor in a third world country means you can't afford to waste a significant piece of meat.

I'm pretty sure I have eaten cat before. Had lunch at a Chinese buffet one day and wasn't sure what the rib meat was. The next day the city found cat carcasses in the dumpster and shut them down. It was pretty tasty actually. Just glad they didn't find rat carcasses in the dumpster.

I once employed a man who ate a cat in desperation. This fellow, call him Richard, was a grad student working on a Ph.D. in wildlife management. In the interim between earning his bachelor's degree and admission to graduate school, he joined the Peace Corps, which sent him into the hinterlands of Sierra Leon to help some poor people establish a tilapia farm. Life in that West African village was difficult, and the eating was miserable at best — mostly rice and millet with very little protein, hence the fish farm project. From groundbreaking to the first harvest the project was going to be a long haul, over two years. Consequently, Richard's contribution would not be rewarded with a tilapia feast. Weeks would go by without any foods other than starch and butter, which plays havoc with the morale of an American accustomed to 24-hour restaurants just down the street.

One morning a large truck appeared in the village. It was loaded down with iced ocean fish. Richard bought a nice mackerel-like specimen which could feed him and his host family handsomely that evening. He took it back to his hut to clean and gut the fish before the warming day spoiled it. While searching for an appropriate knife a cat slipped in through an open window. Richard turned just in time to witness the feline thief making off with his prize. He chased the animal into the bush, but only caught up with it after the fish had been mostly devoured. He used the knife to kill the cat in revenge for its treachery. Reasoning that animal protein is just protein Richard decided to make a meal of the cat — not much of a substitute for fresh-caught mackerel, but food of a sort. Richard, a man who hunts and eats a variety of wild game, told me that cat is the most revolting meat he has ever eaten apart from merganser.

Althouse wrote: I don’t see anything funny here. If this is happening in plain view, what are we not seeing?

We do not see Sean Penn making a show of himself being heroic and humanitarian flying in nutritious food and clean water to the helpless poor as he famously did in Haiti some years ago. Nor do we see Michael Moore chasing Maduro around with a cine camera and a microphone as he did many years ago with General Motors CEO Roger Smith. Nor do we see Jesse Jackson or the Reverand Al Sharpton making a display of themselves on the streets of Caracas with bullhorns and placards.

There may be legitimate reasons why we don't see these people in that place doing the things they are notorious for. Penn hasn't made a movie in a while. Blow is much cheaper now than in the days of Ridgemont High, but without an ever-increasing income, the habit can put a crimp in the lifestyle. Even in his effervescent youth Michael Moore found it irksome to chase anything with legs. These days he mostly chases banana splits with double malteds. And in the case of Messrs. Jackson and Sharpton (call me racist, but I doubt the doctorates) there isn't enough melanin at risk in the Socialist Paradise to capture their interest.

Perhaps Moore and Penn could pool their considerable resources, hire a fleet of transport planes, and haul Twinkies and Subway sandwiches to the starving Maduro voters? On second thought, maybe not. With Moore on board by the end of the flight, there'd be little but wrappers remaining.

I saw this comment on the Daily Mail page: If the Liberals, the Hollywood multi-millionaire elites, and the NFL kneelers succeed in turning America Communist, I am NOT going to eat my cat! Which caused me to reflect that quarterbacks may be much more useful than anyone has yet suspected.

The crowd around her is shocked, so this can't be commonplace. If it's not commonplace, are the general social conditions being reflected, or the habits of one homeless woman? It's a reasonable assumption, but it's still an assumption.

Snark said...The crowd around her is shocked, so this can't be commonplace. If it's not commonplace, are the general social conditions being reflected, or the habits of one homeless woman? It's a reasonable assumption, but it's still an assumption.

You might have missed the part where on the average Venezuelans lost 19 pounds.I don't think there's a national Pilates program.

Trumpit:The U.S., and other countries should be sending aid to the people of Venezuela. Where is the International Red Cross.

Don't blame the US or the International Red Cross. Assign blame where it is deserved: the Chavista Government of Venezuela.Concern as Venezuela Refuses to Accept Aid. You know, the government that fired the Health Minister for allowing publication of data that showed Infant Mortality had risen 30% in a year and that malaria cases had risen 76% in a year. That government.

Tuumpit:"The U.S., and other countries should be sending aid to the people of Venezuela. Where is the International Red Cross."

Rusty in reply:Nothing in the world is stopping you from opening your wallet and lending a helping hand.

Easier said than done. There is a good possibility that if you send goods to Venezuela, they will not reach its destination, but be stolen in Customs. Ditto with sending money. There are ways, but you have to research them thoroughly.

Any unlimited government ends with the People eating cats, rats and shoe leather. Every unlimited government does NOT practice capitalism. Ask yourself where are we on the timeline? We have nearly $30T in debt. Which will never be paid. But ignorant people in America will insist that capitalism is what sunk us.

"You might have missed the part where on the average Venezuelans lost 19 pounds.I don't think there's a national Pilates program."

No. But the assumption that the woman is eating a cat because the country is starving is an assumption. Maybe the country is starving and she's eating a cat because she's mentally or morally ill. It's still producing shock in Venezuala, is my point. Linking her actions to starvation and the country's social situation is an assumption.

Manila joke - Chinese Siopao (Steamed Pork Buns, you find it in the US mainly in dim sum places as Siu Bao, there it was at least sometimes street food)- popularly called "Hello Kitty" because of the mystery meat filling.

Snark:No. But the assumption that the woman is eating a cat because the country is starving is an assumption. Maybe the country is starving and she's eating a cat because she's mentally or morally ill. It's still producing shock in Venezuala, is my point. Linking her actions to starvation and the country's social situation is an assumption.

Yes, it is an assumption, but given the conditions in Venezuela, it is a valid assumption. While we're at it, consider a Bing search of Venezuelans eating zoo animals. Quite a few hits on that particular Bing search.

"Maybe" Venezuelans are eating zoo animals because they are "mentally or morally ill." Perhaps. But a more likely conclusion is that they are eating zoo animals because they are starving. Modify the Bing search for "Venezuelans eating dogs" or "Venezuelans eating cats" and you will see what I mean.

More on starvation and desperation in Venezuela. Starving Venezuelans dying for eating poisonous yuca sold in black market Tulio Linares saw four of his relatives and a neighbor die one by one in Venezuela. It all happened within a week, following a family meal where they had ingested one of the few staples that are still available and affordable in the starved nation: the starchy yucca or cassava.

The explanation came in the autopsies’ results. The Linares and their friend had ingested the wrong kind of yuca, the so-called bitter yucca, which is inadvertently being sold in the street as sweet yuca. The two roots are almost undistinguishable, yet one is banned from the market because it contains a component - hydrocyanic acid – that becomes poisonous if not properly processed.The difficulty to set them apart is taking lives. Unofficial reports count at least 29 yuca-related deaths since October, including a 2-year-old girl last week. Dozens have been intoxicated to different degrees.

The sweet version of the tuber has become a popular option for the lower classes and even Mc Donald's is using it since 2015 as a replacement for potato chips.

According to the 2016 Living Conditions Survey, one of the more noticeable changes in food patterns from the previous year is proteins being replaced by vegetables and tubers. In 2015, Venezuelans predominantly bought flour, rice, bread and pasta, chicken and meat — all those now in the luxury category for the vast majority.

So the deadly yuca is a matter of great concern, especially because it is sold by untraceable unknowing individuals who are just trying to make a buck.

Socialism and Communism strip the will to work and be productive. “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his need” lincentivizes idleness, while Capitalism incentivized each person to produce more because they get to keep what they produce. Why should I work hard if all I produce goes to Trumpit?

brylunI’m in Spain now and a few days ago we went to a restaurant where the waiter was from Venezuela. I asked him about his country and he said that “it is worse than Africa.”You might be interested in this article: Ugandan Slum, Venezuelan Eyes.From the article: I suppose travelogues can be terribly tiresome, but who knows, maybe some of you are interested in reading what staying in a barrio in Kampala feels like to an east-side caraqueño.East-side Caracas is the posh part of town, like Upper East Side in NYC or Beverly Hills in LA.

These days, the American dream is more apt to be realized in South America, in places such as Ecuador, Venezuela and Argentina, where incomes are actually more equal today than they are in the land of Horatio Alger. Who's the banana republic now?

The American dream is more likely to be realized in Venezuela than in the United States, Bernie Sanders tells us. As we all want to realize the American dream, we should emulate Venezuela, Bernie Sanders tells us. Just as Mayor Bernie said that Sandinista Nicaragua should be a model for Vermont.

As Bernie has had a strong case of Castro-love for the last half century, it is no surprise that Bernie had such a high opinion of Hugo Chavez, the latest left-wing despot from South of the Border.

It is no accident that during his recent campaign for President, Bernie said as little as possible when asked about Venezuela. Yes, Bernie called Chavez a "dead communist dictator," but Fidel's also being a "communist dictator" didn't stop Bernie from heaping praise on Fidel when he was alive.